The present invention relates generally to the field of covers, and, in its most preferred embodiments, to the field of inflatable pool cover systems.
Pool covers, and the manner of using them to keep debris out of pools, have been well known for quite some time. Likewise, it has also been well known to employ a blower to apply air under pressure between a pool and a pool cover so that the pool cover is inflated and achieves an arched configuration over the pool.
Notwithstanding the above, U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,853, which claims an inflatable pool cover system that is controlled by a rain-sensitive control switch such that the pool cover automatically inflates when it rains, issued to Pereyra. However, relying on a rain-sensitive control switch to control inflation and deflation of a pool cover has some disadvantages because rain is only one type of debris that it is desirable to keep out of a pool. For example, it is also desirable to keep leaves, small animals, and snow out of pools. Thus, a pool cover system that automatically inflates only when it rains can have trouble dealing with certain types of non-rain debris because large amounts of the non-rain debris can accumulate on top of the pool cover during periods in which no rain falls. Then, when it finally does rain, the blower of the inflatable pool cover system might not be capable of inflating the pool cover due to the weight of debris that has accumulated on top of it. An over-sized blower could potentially be utilized to ensure that the pool cover can be inflated; however, in order to use an over-sized blower, special precautions would have to be taken to secure and protect the pool cover to ensure that it is not damaged by over inflation or caused to "float" away from its proper position over the pool. Also, over-sized blowers can be noisy, and expensive to purchase and operate.
There are further disadvantages of pool covers with rain sensitive control switches. For example, in some cases the various parts associated with the control switch device have to come into contact with and, in some cases, actually collect water. The water can cause rusting or other damage to the parts associated with the control switches, or various parts can be clogged with debris that accompanies the water. Some rain sensitive control switches (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,853 issued to Pereyra) have been developed to avoid some of the potentially damaging affects of collected water; however, these devices are relatively complex. Complexity can add to the cost of devices, increase the amount of maintenance that a device requires, and increase the potential for failure of the device.
In general, current inflatable pool covers also have other disadvantages. For example, wet snow can stick to, accumulate on, and collapse inflated pool covers. Likewise, the system or components that cooperate to inflate pool covers are typically located where they are exposed to damaging environmental elements. Therefore, special precautions must be taken to protect the system or components and, in some cases, the system or components are caused to malfunction as a result of exposure to the elements.
There is, therefore, a need in the industry for a method and an apparatus which solve these and other related, and unrelated, problems.